


Hunger

by SilverServerError



Category: CLAMP - Works, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Demon AU, M/M, background Fai/Seishiro, background Seisub, background Sukam, dub-con, for real that violence tag tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 14:12:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12819243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverServerError/pseuds/SilverServerError
Summary: As always, the first thing he did was take off the black clothes Seishiro had them wear. There were different versions. Some simple. Some rich with ornamentation. Some armor. Some hardly anything at all. It depended on what Seishiro needed from them at the time. What kind of prey he was stalking.But by choice Fai surrounded himself with rich hues of blue. Robes and sweaters and simple gowns, all treasures stolen away from the humans and hoarded in his private world where he got to decide what beautiful meant.





	Hunger

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Happy KuroFai week to you all. It's been so fun seeing everyone's fanworks so far. ^^ 
> 
> So, a little back ground on this. I wrote this a month ago during a few days I was home sick. It was the first thing of any length that I'd written in a while, and I really hadn't found my normal groove. That said, if you're willing to go with the flow on some questionable sentence style choices, I think we're all going to be okay. 
> 
> This is a demon/created servant AU so all the questionable and non consent that goes with that. Feel free to contact me if you would like more info before you read or think the tags should be changed. 
> 
> Happy Kurofai Week!

There was a man who came from the shadows. Walked among mortals and fed off their desperation. Tempted them to their ruin. And at his shoulders stood two bringers of death. One copper skinned and red eyed. No one had ever seen his sword unsheathed. No one who had survived and lived to tell about it. The other, slight and ethereal, white as a corpse. The legends all varied how this second monster killed, yet somehow they agreed without question he was the worse of the two.

 

* * *

 

“Wishes?” Seishiro chuckled softly, thumb drawing across the young man’s cheek. “I’m afraid you’ve called the wrong demon.”

With that, his two soldiers turned on their heels, leaving the small room in practiced uniform, shutting the door behind. With familiar movement they turned to stand guard and give their master privacy, expressions dispassionate as they stared ahead. It started with cries, whimpers… Then came the screams. It seemed Seishiro was feeling particularly sadistic today.

“Fai…” the swordsman said softly to the other, glancing over.

Their names were always changing, but that’s what the legends had grown to call him in their last country. Somewhere between ‘fei’ and ‘fay’, as no one could agree which he was more of. This land had already given him a new name, ‘Kurogane’. Black Steel. Some small part of him was vain enough to like it.

But when Fai glanced over, his expression was clear. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to discuss it. Kurogane let it go, the thought slipping away as they both settled into their guard.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a pattern long established. His swordsman would be dismissed. Seishiro would spend the night enjoying the softer of his creations. Then he would be sent away too, and there would be a time of quiet respite in their quarters, building tiny, private lives until their master called on them once again.

Kurogane would often mediate. Train. Care for the sword that was as much a part of his body as his arm was. Fai would curl up in something soft and read stories, exploring the fanciful worlds humans were constantly inventing. They could spend days in the same space together, comfortable and silent. What was there to say?

 

* * *

 

 

The change began one night as Seishiro turned back to dismiss Fai from following him to his private rooms. It wasn’t unheard of for Seishiro to spend a night after a hunt alone, but it was rare that he would be distracted enough by his human prey that he would want to.

But Fai just nodded, obedient and loyal as he followed Kurogane back to their quarters instead.

Kurogane waited, certainly longer than he had to, so he could hold the door open for Fai as he entered.

Fai smiled, slight and curious as he realized what Kurogane was doing. He respected Kurogane. Trusted him implicitly with his life. Spent almost all of his time in step with him. But these gestures… these choices that went beyond the purpose Seishiro had instilled in them…

“Thank you,” he smiled, meeting his eye and crossing into their rooms.

Kurogane didn’t say anything, but his posture seemed pleased as he followed him inside.

Fai couldn’t get the image out of his head as he went to his own room.

As always, the first thing he did was take off the black clothes Seishiro had them wear. There were different versions. Some simple. Some rich with ornamentation. Some armor. Some hardly anything at all. It depended on what Seishiro needed from them at the time. What kind of prey he was stalking.

But by choice Fai surrounded himself with rich hues of blue. Robes and sweaters and simple gowns, all treasures stolen away from the humans and hoarded in his private world where he got to decide what beautiful meant.

Then there were the stories. Books, scrolls, paintings, legends… Each one taking him like magic to impossible places.

He returned to their common space, this time wrapped in a new kimono, fabric tied haphazardly in the fashion of a place a world away and too ancient to remember. In his hands was a picture book, corners worn from his fingers having turned the pages for hundreds of years. A while he sat peacefully, but as he waited, Kurogane didn’t come. Why…?

Oh of course. Fai would usually be with Seishiro right now. Or on the rare occasion Seishiro didn’t want him, he would simply sleep in his own chambers. He had no idea what Kurogane normally did when he was away.

He could have gone to bed. Left it for the morning. But he couldn’t shake the memory of the door. Of the way Kurogane had held himself after Fai had smiled at him. In the end, the curiosity was too much, and he was at Kurogane’s door before he realized he had moved.

Ignoring a nervousness he could not understand, Fai knocked gently. Almost at once, Kurogane answered it, looking down with a curious, “Fai?”

And Fai hesitated. He had no reason to call on Kurogane, except for wanting to see him. And that made the least sense of all.

But there Kurogane stood, half stripped of his black clothing, chest bare and eyes hesitantly excited.

Fai… liked it. And he had no idea why. “Kurogane,” he asked with a polite smile. “Would you like to hear a story?”

 

* * *

 

 

It felt good standing back to back with Kurgoane as they moved lethally through their opponents. Every step, every shift, every breath… Fai could feel it and moved with him, a perfect pair of deadly precision.

It was different than when Seishiro touched him, or had Fai touch some doomed human on his behalf. This wasn’t submission. It wasn’t seduction. It was a time to listen and respond and create. To feel part of such a perfect whole.

 

* * *

 

“Ahhh!”

Fai cried out, soft mouth open and gasping as Kurogane moved inside him.

It had started simply enough, Kurogane asking what Fai did when Seishiro sent him away. Next a shy request and an easy response. But this?

This tender way of holding each other, quiet and slow… This was something they had created all on their own.

“Kuro,” he begged softly, thighs and arms wrapping tight around him as sensation quickly became too much. “Please! More!”

Kurogane growled, holding his hips steady.

“Kuro, I- Ahhhhh!”

And then Kurogane would hold him, kissing soft and sweet until Fai could speak again.

 

* * *

 

“It’s a sad story,” Kurogane said, fingers tracing the careful illumination as Fai’s reading came to a close. “His wings melted and he drown.”

And Fai just looked up at him, perplexed. It had never occurred to him before. “It’s a happy story,” he insisted. “He escaped.”

 

* * *

  
“Fai,” Seishiro called after him, expectant.

They both stopped, looking back curiously.

For a long time after Seishiro brought the prisoner home, Fai did not see much of him. But that too came to an end one day.

“With me,” he said simply, and turned to walk away, trusting Fai to obey once more as he had done thousands of times.

Fai hesitated, then started following, stomach cold in a way he’d never felt before.

All it took was one distressed glance back before Kurogane pushed his sword ready with his thumb. It was all instinct, learned from lifetimes of battle. Protect Fai. Survive together.

But the tiny sound of metal on metal echoed sick and wrong.

Instantly his stomach knotted. Fai looked at him with wide, worried eyes, but he was eclipsed by a silent, furious Seishiro, coming to stand nose to nose with him, staring him down.

“What do you think you’re doing,” Seishiro asked him, low and poisonous. “drawing your weapon here?”

Kurogane swallowed, thoughts racing. He hadn’t meant to… but Fai had looked at him and… he tried to seek him out, but Seishiro stayed resolutely in place, blocking his vision of anything else. “I… didn’t,” he said weakly, still confused by his own actions.

“But you were about to,” Seishiro pressed insistently. “Why?”

Kurogane swallowed. He… He way loyal. He had served Seishiro for so many years without hesitation. It was the first time his instincts had led him astray.

“Fai…” he said softly, honestly trying to understand. “He… He didn’t want to go with you.”

“Is this true, Yuui?” It was the first name Seishiro had given Fai. He always insisted on calling them as such.

Seishiro turned back, but Fai was ready with a placating smile and adoring eyes. “Of course not, Master.” He reached out warmly, hoping he would take his hand. “He’s just confused.”

“He’s not confused,” Seishiro insisted, voice growing hard. “He’s lying.”

The sword manifested from dark smoke in his hand, and he ran it through Kurogane’s shoulder and into the wall without warning.

Kurogane screamed and Fai covered his mouth in silent horror.

Seishiro grabbed Fai by a hand, dragging him away as he looked back in shock, watching kurogane bleed like obsidian onto the floor.

 

* * *

 

Kurogane wasn’t moving when Seishiro walked Fai past to deliver him back to their quarters. He’d tried so hard, trying to talk him into sparing Kurogane. He had to act as if he didn’t really care, knowing begging would just make it that much worse. Now as he watched Seishiro leave, all he could do was wait and hope it wasn’t already too late.

 

* * *

 

Fai had almost given up when Kurogane was pushed through their door, shaky, pale, and his arm completely gone.

 

* * *

 

 

“I did this,” Fai whispered, reaching across Kurogane’s chest to pet over his wound. Seishiro had healed it imperfectly, and the touch was a welcome distraction from the ever-present ache.

“What do you…?”

“When I looked back.” Fai rested his head against Kurogane's shoulder, held in what was left of his embrace. “I’m so sorry.”

 

* * *

 

 

After that, they wore the same collars the prisoners did. The less they mentioned it, the happier Seishiro seemed to be.

 

* * *

 

 

When next Seishiro called on them, Fai stood stone faced in the amory, hands trailing solemnly over iron and steel. He had never carried an obvious weapon before. Seishiro liked him unthreatening. He liked the shock on the human’s faces as they met a hidden dagger. The confusion after a toxin laced kiss.

But no more.

Fai’s eyes hardened as he gripped the solid wood of the handle and pulled a pitchfork off the wall.

It wasn’t elegant. And it wasn’t subtle. But the thought of anyone hurting Kurogane in his new, weakened state made him feel anything but.

 

* * *

 

  
The prisoners always acted the same. Horror. Grief. Mourning. But in the end it always came to boredom.

That’s why Subaru always seemed happiest when Seishiro brought him on hunts, even if it was just to break a ward or barrier he didn’t feel like working on himself. At least it was different. At least it wasn’t the cage.

He and Kurogane moved through the darkness, wrapped in robes and capes, the better to blend in with the cultists.  
  
It spoke to how well Kurogane had adapted that they were through half of their assignment before Subaru stopped mid prayer, finally realizing why Kurogane had been favoring his other arm so heavily.

“What happened to you?”

It took Kurogane a moment to realize what he meant. It had been so long.

But how to explain? He just shrugged. “Seishiro,” he said vaguely.

Subru’s eyes widened. Part of him had always wondered why Seishiro seemed to leave his servants be while treating his prey so violently. Apparently it had only been a matter of time after all. The other part of him was calming down, relieved that it was Seishiro, and not some mortal threat that had managed to hurt him. He was still safe. (For the given value of safe.) Kurogane could still protect them.

“I’m sorry,” Subaru said quietly, holding his tome of prayers a little closer. “About your arm.”

Kurogane glanced over, surprised. “I’m sorry about your eye.” The tone was almost questioning. He didn’t really understand the sentiment, but it seemed like something Fai would have said. He was better with the humans, and Subaru particularly.

Subaru looked up at him hard, like he was trying to read his mind. “Do you mean that?”

“No.”

And Subaru just looked at him harder. “Then why did you say it?”

“I…”

Kurogane couldn’t answer him. And the question haunted him long after their mission was complete and Seishiro had feasted.

 

* * *

 

 

“Mmmm…”

Fai kissed him deeper, nails scratching slow and firm down Kurogane’s chest. The poison that had killed Seishiro’s prey dissipated as pleasant heat against his inhuman skin. A broad hand traced through the hair at the nape of Fai’s neck and pulled him closer.

 

* * *

 

“I got you this,” Kurogane said, offering the charm in a careful palm, delicate chain of silver swinging softly with his movement.

Fai gasped, holding the back of Kurogane’s hand in both of his. Wide, tender eyes stared up at him, blue like the shining stones of fluorite in the pendant.

“From the church,” he smiled. “One of the cultists was wearing it. It made me think of you.”

“I love it,” Fai told him softly, pressing another tender kiss to his lips. Then he drew his hair to the side, offering the long neck Kurogane had spent so many nights worshiping. “Will you help me put it on?”

Kurogane swallowed as he did so, chest filling with that same light it did every time he managed to make Fai happy. He fixed the clasp, chain nestling just below the collar. Stone sitting just at his sternum. Fai picked it up, watching how the facets caught the light, turning it over to find scratches in the silver mounting. He looked up at Kurogane, curious.

“Subaru,” he explained. “He sensed a blessing on it.”

Fai nodded. Of course. The cult had carried so many holy symbols. It was lucky Subaru had caught it for them.

He turned it back over, thumb stroking over the design again.

 

* * *

 

He didn’t always wear it. Not when Seishiro could call on him and find it. But he did on missions that he knew would just be fighting. Or in their private rooms after Seishiro was done with him. That was when it sat warm and secret against his heart.

 

* * *

 

It started like an earthquake.

No, things like that were impossible here.

It started like a bomb.

 

* * *

 

  
When the shaking stopped, Fai and Kurogane just held each other, breathing hard. Subaru had been spending hundreds of years building their wards. Whatever attack that was, it hadn’t broken through, but they shouldn’t have been able to feel anything at all.

For the first time, Kurogane felt fear.

“Are you okay?” he asked gruffly, chest still tight.

“Yes,” Fai whispered, hands trembling against his shoulders.

They moved cautiously, slowly standing and surveying their quarters. Paintings knocked crooked. Ornaments shattered on the floor where they had fallen off shelves. Fai was hesitantly moving toward one when Seishiro threw their door open without warning and stalked inside. That was an even bigger shock than the shaking had been. Never in all the years they had served him, had Seishiro entered their rooms.

“What did you do?” He hissed.

Kurogane watched in shock, and it was Fai who started to stammer out an answer.

“Nothing! We- we were just reading.”

“Reading what?” Seishiro snapped, crisp and deadly.

Fai turned to where the book still lay on their settee, abandoned in the confusion. It was one they’d read together a hundred times before.

Seishiro strode over to it and snatched it up, flipping through the pages once, twice, then growling with frustration and tearing the the book in half at the spine and throwing it on the floor.

Kurogane felt rage bubbling in his already frightened chest, but he held back, knowing what challenging him could bring. He saw Fai make the same catch, swallowing his obvious upset, to concentrate on the raging Seishiro as he tore through their space.

“Where is it?!” Seishiro barked, first going to Kurogane's room, but finding it bare and plain. Fai trailed after him as he stalked back over to Fai’s open door.

“Where is what?” Fai asked, desperately trying to help. To do anything to calm Seishiro back down and make him act normally.

“The beacon!”

Kurogane followed too, shocked into stillness at the doorway as he saw Seishiro grabbing Fai’s books at random and throwing them to the floor after a desperate scanning of their pages. Fai just stood out of the way, eyes wide in panic and horror. Then it was the robes and dresses, torn off the wall, and thrown to the ground as Seishiro searched for runes etched into the stones themselves. When they proved to be pristine Seishiro seemed to be at a loss, until with a new determination he turned on Fai himself.

“Wait! Seishiro, stop! I-”

Kurogane lunged forward, even without a weapon. Anything to get between Fai and whatever dared threaten him, even if that threat was Seishiro himself. But Seishiro shot a glare at him, and raised a hand. Kurogane froze as he felt a chill spread from his collar and through his body, holding him with iron strength from the inside, leaving him completely paralyzed and helpless as he watched Seishiro overpower Fai onto the bed.

“Please,” Fai begged, fearfully compliant as Seishiro started ripping his clothes away and searching his skin. The less he struggled, the less Seishiro would have to hurt him. “I don’t know what you’re looking for! I don’t know why they’re attacking!”

But Seishiro just ignored him, grabbing the edges of his shirt and ripping it open down the middle. Seishiro’s eyes grew wide, and he grabbed the winged pendant resting on Fai’s chest in one hand, jerking down on it hard enough to break the delicate chain and pull it away. Then with the other hand he slapped him hard against the cheek.

Fai stayed down, gasping and tears falling from the pain. Kurogane raged and struggled, but there was nothing he could do as he watched Seishiro pick Fai’s chin back up, forcing him to meet his eye.

“Please!” Fai whispered, but Seishiro didn’t listen as he raised his hand again. This time he held his palm open, staring down furiously as the blue started to pull from Fai’s eyes.

Kurogane tried to scream, to yell, to attack, but all he could do was watch as Fai’s eyes were left a dull yellow, and his expression blank and lifeless.

Seishiro collected the blue into the hand holding the pendant, making it glow, throwing strange shadows and beams of light across the walls. Then the room fell to sudden darkness again as Seishiro turned the pendant over again to inspect the back side. “Subaru,” he hissed, eyes narrowing as he read the runes his prisoner had scratched into the silver. With a new bloodlust, he stalked out of the room.

It wasn’t until their main chamber door slammed behind Seishiro that Kurogane was finally let go. He stumbled forward, then rushed to Fai, kneeling at his side by the bed.

“Fai?!” But there was no response to the words, or the careful touch that traced his red cheek. “Fai, what did he do to you?”

Kurogane tried and tried, but nothing worked. He still breathed. His heart still beat. But he seemed in a trance. Kurogane raged inside, swearing vengeance, but for now he moved the books that had been trod on. Picked up Fai’s clothes from the floor to the bed. He wrapped a much loved shawl around Fai’s shoulders, covering him once more, hiding the collar from view.

“Fai…” he breathed, sitting at his side, careful touch smoothing pale hair back behind an ear.

Then… with a knotting stomach…

“Yuui?”

And Fai looked up at him, stare blank, but attentive.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m going to kill you,” Kurgane announced as the door shut behind him. “You lied to me. You-”

But as he rounded the cage, he found Subaru with the same, dead-eyed gaze Fai now wore.

He screamed in frustration, and brought his sword down across iron bars in a shower of sparks. But he left Subaru be, motionless and unresponsive.

 

* * *

 

 

The attacks came again, and again. “Who wants you so badly?” Seishiro would ask a Subaru that could not answer. “You’re annoyingly popular, you know that?” And Subaru would just continue with his monotone prayers, replenishing their defenses.

 

* * *

 

 

When the warding broke, there was no warning. Just a shaking, and then a crash. A furious angel with violet eyes and dripping in holy fire. He stalked forward, ignoring Fai and Kurogane completely. It wasn’t the first angel they’d seen, but certainly the first they’d seen at such close range. The ones who came after were more strategic, and though Kurogane fought desperately to protect himself and Fai, he had never been given the power to stand up to something like this.

It happened so quickly, and before he knew it, they were moving on, one left behind to deal with the two of them.

The angel outstretched a palm, hovering over Kurogane’s brow, down his cheek, over his heart before finally resting on his chest. Inside Kurogane could feel a warmth, burrowing deeper and deeper, uncomfortable and wrong as the angel seemed lost in concentration. Then they lifted their soft green gaze, stare boring into him. At last their hand turned, two thin fingers catching under the collar, pulling it tight and uncomfortable.

“You’re so much more demon than I’m supposed to spare,” they said seriously. “Don’t make me regret it.”

Then with a tug, the collar turned back into black smoke, dissipating into nothing once more.

Kurogane swallowed, wrapping his own hand over his neck, the feeling of freedom shocking when he’d been expecting death.

He glanced over as the angel began the same search on Fai, but they stopped almost as soon as they had begun. They frowned sadly, then drew a blade. Kurogane dove between them, back to the angel as he embraced Fai. It was a defenseless position, but what was the point of pretending when the other was so powerful?

“Not him,” Kurogane said firmly, looking over his shoulder, as he wrapped his hand around to cradle Fai’s head.

The angel tipped their head, wary. “But he’s empty. There’s nothing of redemption here.”

Fai just watched the proceeding silently, blank and unaffected.

“No he… Seishiro took something from him. This is not who he is. Wherever the beacon is, you’ll find the rest of him.”

The angel narrowed their eyes at Kurogane, then stared hard into the blank ones of Fai’s. They seemed unconvinced, but in the end, tore Fai’s collar away with the same ethereal touch.

“Keep him safe,” the angel warned. “And keep him out of the way.”

 

* * *

 

 

Kurogane had taken them back to their rooms, and was packing only what he could carry. Fai treasured everything he stole from the humans, and Kurogane could only hope he was picking the ones that meant the most. His next stop was going to be the amory, when they were cornered by another group of angels, once more lead by the one that had spared him.

“Kamui wishes to see you.”

It was not a question.

 

* * *

 

 

Kurogane walked, hand tight around Fai’s as he lead him along. They were taken down the familiar path to Subaru’s cage. The roomed seemed so much bigger now that there were so many angels lining the walls with heads bowed slightly in respect. The cage was still there, but the iron bars had been ripped apart so the violet eyed angel could get inside. It was cramped with his wings but he cradled Subaru to his chest with one arm, and held Fai’s pendant up with the other.

Kurogane gasped as soon as he saw it.

“A trade,” he said, voice hard, barely holding back fury. “Fai’s soul for Subaru’s.”

Kurogane had never heard the word before, but could tell what the angel meant. “I don’t have it.”

Kaumi, for that must be his name if this is who he was to come speak to, took a deep breath, holding back obvious pain. “Then you must know where it is.”

“Seishiro would carry it with him.”

“Seishiro is dead,” Kamui declared, voice rising. “This is all we found.”

Kurogane dismissed it out of hand, the idea unthinkable for so many reasons. “I’m sorry,” he said lowly, watching Kamui hold the motionless Subaru tighter. “I…” He didn’t have more words than that, but this time… he really felt it. “Let us help you,” Kurogane said, surprising even himself.

“What?”

“Give me the pendant back,” he said, plan falling into place with desperate speed. “And we can help you hunt him down.”

“He’s dead!” Kamui repeated, rage and helplessness across his face.

“It down,” Kurogane amended, tucking his chin, showing deference.

Kamui stared at him, furious, then visibly swallowed it down. “Fine,” he said at last, voice raw. He held out the pendant and one of his soldiers took it. “Mark him and give it back.”

“Mark him?” Kurogane asked warily, but before he could react, another angel stepped behind Fai, touching the nape of his neck lightly. Fai cried out, sharp and painful, but it passed almost instantly, before he was staring blankly forward again. By then the angel with the pendant had almost arrived and Kurogane barely had time to-

“Stop!” he cried. “Not here,” he looked back imploringly at Kamui. “Please.”

Kamui held Subaru a little tighter, taking pity. “Very well.”

 

* * *

 

 

Their new rooms were different. Light everywhere. Inexplicable breezes even when he shut their windows. Windows at all. But Kurogane did his best to drape blue across Fai’s walls and bed, giving the room at least a little familiar darkness.

“Lay back, Yuui” he said softly, joining him on the bed, fully clothed, kneeling across his hips. Fai smiled softly, reaching out and trying to draw him into a kiss, but Kurogane just gently held him away with a hand on his chest. “No, just rest.”

Fai did so, watching with mild interest as Kurogane pulled open the front seam of Fai’s robes, then very, very carefully, lay the pendant back down on his sternum.

“Youou?” he asked softly, brow furrowing as something painful started trickling into his chest. Then he gasped, confused at first then, eyes sharpening to agonized clarity as he looked up, the first traces of blue bleeding back into them. “Kuro!”

Fai reached up desperately, and Kurogane bent down, pressing his forehead to Fai’s and wrapping his arm around his shoulders, holding him, grounding through the pain.

 

* * *

 

  
Fai would often sit at Subaru’s side, holding his hand and resting his head on his shoulder.

“Is he in there?” Kamui asked one day, finding Fai speaking softly to him.

“I don’t know,” Fai told him regretfully, petting Subaru’s knuckles. “Humans are different.”

 

* * *

 

 

After that, Kurogane kept a close eye on Fai. Even in the safety of Heaven. It was almost like old times, spending hours and days together in comfortable silence. So he was there when Fai tried on the uniform.

The angels wore white, draped and tied with only slight variation. And the angel they came to know as Hisui, the one who had first spared them, had given them robes should they want them. They would be fighting together. It seemed only right to offer.

So it was that Fai stood in front of their mirror, light catching his skin and hair until he seemed almost glowing. The angels did that from within, but here in the sunlight, it almost…

Kurogane drifted quietly closer, watching as Fai concentrated, carefully getting the layers and draping right. With one more across his shoulder, he pinned it carefully in place, then finally let himself glance at Kurogane questioningly.

Kurogane just smiled, reassuring as he let a hand run up his back. It was scarred now, covered in the insignia of wings that the angel had marked him with. The same of the cult they’d attacked so long ago. The same of the pendant. The ridges were still new under Kurogane’s fingertips, but if they hurt, Fai didn’t show it.  
  
Instead he took a soft breath, letting his focus shift to the reflected image once more, hands gently pulling at folds, trying to get them perfect.

“You look just like them,” Kurogane said with a small smile.

Fai glanced up, an unexpected sadness in his eyes. “Yes,” he said softly, meeting Kurogane’s gaze. “I think that was Seishiro’s point.”

It took a moment for that to sink in, but when it did, it sat heavy and thick in his stomach. He winced and gave a tiny apologetic frown.

But Fai just turned and held Kurogane’s face in two gentle hands.

“I’m not an angel,” Fai told him softly. Even if Seishiro liked pretending. Even if he wore the uniform. Especially not with the placeholder wings burned into his back. “I’m like you. We’re still the same.” Fai’s eyes narrowed beseechingly, putting words to feelings he only half understood. “Maybe I should act like it.”

“What do you mean?”

Fai pulled him down for a deep, slow kiss, then sighed as he eased away. He looked up into Kurogane’s red eyes, trusting the want that pulled him stronger than any other.

“I don’t want to wear white,” Fai told him solemnly, thumbs tracing tenderly at either side of his neck. “I want to wear crimson.”

 

* * *

 

 

When they joined the hunt, it was with allegiance to each other. The only color in a sea of white. Fai dressed in red. Kurogane dressed in blue.

 

* * *

 

Still later, when the final battle came, they were not strong enough to stand on the front line, but it was Kurogane’s instinct that made them prepare for Seishiro’s continued existence. And Fai’s intimate knowledge of his cravings that helped them lay the perfect trap.

It was decisive. Unescapable. And to Kurogane and Fai, utterly unsatisfying. Maybe that’s what had Fai sneaking to the dungeons.

 

* * *

 

“Are you here to interrogate me, too?”

Fai just watched him, carefully coming closer. He looked different now. More human than Fai was used to seeing him present as. And the familiar robes had been replaced by a dark suit. Maybe he’d been hiding with Fuuma in their absence. Something about that made Fai even more uncomfortable. But the worst thing had to be the context. Back home Seishiro was surrounded by shadows and comfort. Here in the brightly lit cell he seemed almost… small.

“You won’t find it.” Seishiro told him, more bored than anything. “Only Subaru has that power, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore.”

“He’s stronger than you think,” Fai answered calmly.

Seishiro just smiled, at last getting up and walking casually to the bars. He was still so tall. Fai suddenly felt vulnerable in his robes and bare feet.

“I know exactly how strong he was. That’s why I liked him so much.” Seishiro smiled at him, and for a moment he seemed almost fond. “What have they done to your back? It was so pretty before.”

“They didn’t trust me without it.”

“Smart,” Seishiro shrugged. “But a shame.”

“Kurogane’s arm was pretty,” Fai narrowed his eyes, old rage and the promise of bars making him brave. “You cut that off. That was a shame, too”

“That was your fault,” Seishiro said calmly, not raising to the bait.

“No.”

“Is that what they told you?” He asked raising a curious eyebrow. “But you don’t believe it, do you?” He was already sure of his answer.

Fai avoided his gaze, staring at the stone ground instead.

“No.”

A long moment passed, then Seishiro sighed. “It’s hard without me there, isn’t it? The angels telling you to think things that don’t make sense.”

“I think for myself.” Fai told him a touch of defiance.

“And this what you do on your own? Whatever it takes to see me again?”

“I tricked you,” Fai said firmly, eyes starting to narrow. “You fell for my trap.”

“I saw your signature style of hunting. I decided I missed you enough to be caught.”

“You missed me?” He said softly, taking another step forward.

Seishiro smiled and reached through the bars to pull him closer. “Did you miss me too?” He breathed, pulling their mouths a breath’s width away-

And then pausing. Then backing away slightly.

Fai smiled deliciously. “You’re wondering, aren’t you? If I’ve come to poison you or not.” He bit a lip, and gazed up at him, that old, familiar seduction that even now gave Seishiro a thrill down his spine. “The angels know how. Even someone like you.”

Seishiro narrowed his eyes. “If I die, you die.”

“And?”

Seishiro looked at him hard, staring into the eyes of his creation. “No. You care. You’re in love.”

And then Fai laughed sharply, and Seishiro felt the first shivers of doubt.

“Now you sound like Kurogane,” Fai grinned up at him.

“If you kill me, you’ll never save Subaru.”

Fai tipped his head back and forth, making a show of pondering it. “Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I’m just sick of having to see him like this.”

“No, you want to save him.”

And suddenly Fai stepped forward, eyes alive with passion. “You were always the one obsessed with Subaru, not me.”

Seishiro gasped, eyes growing wide. A gaping silence and then, “You were jealous.”

“I was your creation,” Fai cried accusingly. “He’s just some human!”

Seishiro reached out and pulled Fai forward by the neck, kissing him deep and possessive. Fai growled, for the first time kissing back hard. For all the times he had to be passive. For all the times he had to do as he was told.

It was Seishiro who pulled away first, gasping and looking at Fai with a new, burning interest.

Fai turned away, breathing hard and letting the bars support him, hands covering his face.

“The next time you see me,” Seishiro said, low at his ear, a fingertip reaching through and tracing down Fai’s spine, “you wear black.”

Fai gasped as in the wake of his touch, he felt his wings disappear.

 

* * *

 

Kurogane knew right away. Fai might be able to hide it from the angels, but not from him. Any reassurance Kurogane might need, Fai tried to pour into his kisses, his touches, the way he moved inside.

But Kurogane had loved him through so much more than that. As long as he had Fai safe in his bed again, that was enough.

Fai laid across Kurogane’s front, feeling the warmth of him on his cheek. The gentle rise and fall of his breathing. His hand traced up Fai’s once more perfect back.

“Does it feel better now?” Kurogane asked him softly. “To have them gone.”

“I don’t know,” Fai whispered, low and trusting in their little sanctuary of a room. “I didn’t choose to have them, but I didn’t choose to take them away either.” Kurogane squeezed him a little tighter, and Fai tucked his head. “I’m tired of being treated like canvas.”

They lay in silence, until kurogane could take it no more. He both needed and feared an answer. “Did you find it?”

Fai frowned, glancing away. “This is going to be complicated.”

 

* * *

 

Seishiro, like any demon, had eyes like shadows. Nothing could escape their depths. It hurt to look into them too long. Angel or human alike.

But Fai had. Fai had spent lifetimes’ worth of nights meeting his gaze and exploring the shades. So he was the only one to notice their change. The subtle tint of green that did not belong to him.

 

* * *

 

“You know I can’t do that,” Hisui told him, dismissive, the very idea crazy.

“Please,” Fai, caught their wrist, voice small and desperate. “I think you know what it’s like. To want something you shouldn’t.”

 

* * *

 

 

The plan came together distressingly quickly. The first dagger Seishiro had ever given him. A key on loan from Hisui. And clothing, tight and black. They could do it.

The agonizing thing that held them back was the question of if they should. In fairy tales, the choice between escape and death always seemed so clear cut. But this was like the story he’d read to Kurogane that first night. This seemed an uncertain mix of the two.

 

* * *

 

 

Kurogane let his head fall back, a soft gasp escaping his lips. Fai nuzzled into the warm skin of his neck, nose and lips tracing where Seishiro’s collar used to lay. He took a soft breath, then bit down once more, claiming him back, over and over, every day if he had to.

Beneath him Kurogane moaned, hand gripping at the red of Fai’s shirt against his back.

“Mine,” Fai breathed, heavy and possessive.

“Yours.”

Fai moved a few more inches and did the same thing again.

At last it was too much to take lying still. Kurogane rolled them over, bearing down on Fai and kissing him hard into the blankets. Nails scratched deliciously down his chest and he only pulled away when the hands wrapped around him and started stroking fast and tight.

“Fai!”

It wasn’t always like this. Fai had a tendency to be selfish, something that Kurogane never begrudged him, all things considered.

But some times…

Fai stared up at him, eyes soft and needy.

They both knew. That if things didn’t go right, this might be…

But neither of them said it.

Words weren’t enough for the aching panic in their chests anyway.

 

* * *

 

 

In all their time together, Kurogane had never seen Fai getting dressed like this. Not in black. Not in leather and lacings. Fai ignored his unease, pulling the red robe on over the top,

He kissed Kurogane one last time, eyes closed, desperately remembering the feeling.

 

* * *

 

 

“Yuui?” Seishiro asked in mildly pleased surprise. “I see you remembered what I like,” he added, eyes dragging up and down his body.

Fai said nothing.

Seishiro’s eyes widened as Fai pulled out a key, and let himself inside, carefully relocking it from the inside, then pushing it along the inside of a tight gauntlet for safe keeping. Seishiro watched the movement like a hawk.

In truth, this was anything but safe. Seishiro could overpower him and take it at any moment. Even if Kurogane were there, it wouldn’t have mattered. That’s what being his creation meant, and always would. But it was enough to keep Seishiro’s dark gaze from noticing the subtle line of the dagger along the calf of his boot.

Fai took a few slow steps forward, heels clicking crisp on the stone. Seishiro spread his legs, looking up with anticipation as Fai came to stand between them, then slowly kneel. He let his hand run through smooth, blonde hair, pulling it through his fingers.

Fai tipped his chin up to gaze at him and Seishiro pet with warm hands down his throat and chest. Fai made a longing little noise and Seishiro smiled.

“Did you miss me?” he said softly.

“Please…”

Then Seishiro leaned in for a kiss, slow and dominate, a hand wrapping around Fai’s throat. Fai groaned and let his hands grip Seishiro’s thighs that just spread wider. He kept reaching higher… higher up, until a sharp bite to his lower lip caught Fai by surprise and he gasped in soft pain, Seishiro still holding him by the teeth. He met his eye, then slowly pulled away until at last Fai’s lip pulled free.

“Relax, Yuui,” He purred, fingers starting to pull at a lacing at Fai’s shoulder. “You’re always in such a rush.”

Fai’s heart started pounding as Seishiro began undressing him. He was so predictable, but still, he needed Seishiro distracted by this. He needed-

Seishiro stopped trying to untie Fai and let his fingers weave between the lacings instead, then pull them tight with a fist.

Yes! Perfect!

Seishiro laughed, keeping his tight grip with one hand but covering one of Fai’s hands on his leg with the other. “You’re shaking, Yuui,” he said with a soft smile on his face. “Are you excited?” he whispered against his ear. “Scared?”

Fai tried not to react. He couldn’t… not yet. Seishiro’s hand was caught, but the position was too compromised to attempt anything. He was only going to get one try. That much he was sure off. He needed patience.

Fai swallowed hard and did his best to look seduced. It wasn’t hard. He’d had lifetimes of practice.

“I-”

“Shh…” Seishiro moved Fai’s hand between his legs, and Fai started massaging up and down, grateful he didn’t have to contrive some distraction.

Seishiro let him please him for a while, eyes roaming pale shoulders and dark strips of leather, until at last… “Stand up.”

Fai did so as Seishiro did the same. It was better. The chances a little more even, but the dagger was so far out of reach now. Seishiro would have too much time to react. Better to-

“Ahhh!”

Fai cried out as Seishiro picked him up by the thighs and pushed him against the wall, kissing him hard and grinding his hips up between his legs. Fai clutched at him in instinct, body giving in to the familiar position, thighs wrapping around Seishiro and pulling him closer. Seishiro growled in his ear and for a moment he could think of nothing else. Seishiro’s hands were on him. His body was hot and getting more was all that mattered.

But then Seishiro gripped his hips with a new intensity. One that Fai knew well. He wanted a fight. He wanted a struggle.

But if things got that far…

Fai didn’t have much time left.

The heart pounding in his chest suddenly overcame every other sensation. Now or-

Fai held his breath as he reached for the calf of his boot and drew out his dagger. He pulled Seishiro’s head to the side and drove the blade hard into his eye socket.

Seishiro sucked in a sharp breath as Fai pulled it away, his sight darkening and face burning with pain. He struck out blindly, nails catching Fai’s face with all of his panicked force.

As the black blood started to pour from Seishiro’s ruined socket, and the heat of the scratches started to drip down his chin, Fai pushed away, then planted a heeled foot against Seishiro’s stomach forcing him back. Seishiro had recovered just enough to try and catch Fai as he darted by, but he was too fast. Fai abandoned the key in the lock as he pushed the gate open, darting out with every ounce of speed he had, not daring to look back.

 

* * *

 

Fai wasn’t thinking clearly. Nothing mattered beside run. Get away. Faster!

Something was coming for him. Something cold that bit at his heels every time he let up for just a moment. But he was close! He could see him! He-

Something caught Fai’s foot and held it frozen to the ground, sending him crashing to the floor hard. The air knocked out of his lungs and his arm throbbed with pain. The chill started climbing his body as he struggled. His ankle, his knee, his hip…

He could see Subaru in his room, the noise of his crash drawing his attention. With a last moment of desperation Fai threw the eye. Subaru’s senses were too dulled, and they both watched it bounce off his chest and fall wetly to the floor.

… his gut, his breath, his heart…

But then, almost painfully slowly, Subaru bent down, holding the eye curiously in his hands.

“Sei- Seishiro?”

Fai collapsed with relief as he saw the first traces of green weave their way out of the eye and into his hands like the roots of a plant.

“Ahhhh!”

Subaru tried to let go, but he stood paralyzed in pain as green and then black worked its way back up his hands and arms, and finally his eye, leaving dark bruising all along the way.

As the process completed, Fai felt the cold consume him, and grow heavy around his neck.

 

* * *

 

  
“Fai!” Kurogane called out to him, relief breaking like daylight across his worried expression. The wait had been agonizing but he was ready to disappear with Fai among the mortals, never to be caught by demon or angel again. They would survive together. They would find a way.

“Fai?”

But Fai’s steps didn’t falter, steady, almost automatic. Kurogane started to take a defensive stance. Something was wrong.

As Fai came close he drew the dagger, still sticky and dark from Seishiro’s blood.

“Fai?” he asked lowly, thumb prepping his sword. “Are you in there?”

Fai looked up at him, eyes wide and frightened. He summoned all of his will and choked out the words, “I- Collar!” But that’s all he could manage.

Kurogane’s eyes caught on the strip of darkness lining his throat. He’d missed among all the other straps and laces. He met Fai’s gaze again and swallowed.

“I’ll free you,” he promised Fai, staring him in the eye. “It’s going to be okay.”

And with that Fai couldn’t fight it anymore. There was one last look of pain and then a blankness. It was as if Fai had never seen him before. As if Kurogane was just another prey.

Fai lunged first, and Kurogane drew his sword to block the attack, but Fai pivoted into it. He curled into Kurogane’s space, his back against Kurogane’s chest. The moment Fai came close, Kurogane reacted completely wrong. His body was too used to Fai. Too trusting and protective of him. And Fai took full advantage. He planted a foot and reached back to drag Kurogane by the shoulder over it, forcing him to the ground.

Kurogane rolled into it, shaken, but recovering easily and turning back with a foot catch Fai’s ankles, unstable and vulnerable in the heels he wore. But Fai’s reactions were too fast for him. They always had been. He jumped over the swipe and landed ready to launch himself forward into another attack with the dagger.

Kurogane blocked again, and used Fai’s open defense from the attack to plant a foot against his stomach and launch him backwards. Fai groaned from the blow, but managed to stay upright.

Kurogane got back to his feet, holding his sword defensively, breathing hard. His gaze drug over Fai, looking for some weakness, some vulnerability. If he could just get a hold of his clothing, he’d have the advantage, but that would mean abandoning his sword, a potentially fatal decision.

He had to concentrate. This wasn’t like fighting a human where he could relax. And challenging as they may be, this wasn’t a sparring match. He had to fight every instinct that told him to trust Fai. That he wasn’t a threat. If only he could-

Without warning Fai sprung forward again, dagger aimed at Kurogane’s throat. Without thinking, Kurogane blocked it, forcing his blade down between Fai’s thumb and first finger. Fai cried out as the muscle severed, and he dropped the blade, no longer able to grip it.

Kurogane watched in horror at the look on Fai’s face. As the blade tumbled toward the ground. It fell with a clatter between them as they both watched the blood bead, then flow down Fai’s hand and forearm. His stomach clenched sickly in guilt, but for all that he wanted to take Fai into his arms and comfort him, he knew this wasn’t over.

He drew the dagger back under the sole of his shoe, and kicked it to the wall behind him, then threw his sword behind him just the same, no longer trusting himself to wield it against Fai. He came for Fai once more, and though it felt merciless to do so so soon, he gripped Fais good arm and twisted it, forcing Fai to the ground. Fai cried out but he kept going, twisting until the arm was wrenched so high that Fai couldn’t move without hurting himself. For good measure he hooked two fingers through the laces down Fai’s back.

“I’m sorry,” he said, low and quiet, breath harsh as he held Fai down. “I…” But he had no excuse. “I’m so sorry.”

Fai struggled beneath him. Growled and moaned. Tried to kick. But it was useless now that Kurogane had him down and was so much heavier.

Kurogane barely had time to catch his breath before a flash of white and footsteps from the hallway drew his attention.

“Kamui!” He yelled out. They’d been trying to get away undetected, unsure of Heaven’s plan for them after they lost their use. But that seemed like such a detail when what Kurogane really needed was the collar off Fai’s neck. “Please! I need you to break the-”

“Where are his wings?” Kamui asked, low and furious.

Kurogane grit his teeth. Kamui had never been overly fond of them, but he’d hoped they might have earned something like trust by now.

“I can explain later. But right now-”

“Where are his wings, Kurogane?” Kamui asked again, voice rising. “I have an empty cell and an escaped prisoner.”

Kurogane snapped, tired of angels and begging and apologizing for things that had never been their fault. “He did it to bring back Subaru!” He yelled, defiant and angry.

But Kamui just met him with an equal fury. “He brought him back wrong!”

Kurogane’s eyes widened as Kamui let his blade drop into his palm, taking a step closer. Kurogane shifted, placing himself protectively between him and Fai. It would be futile but he had to try. The angel raised his hand and then-

“Kamui!”

Kamui froze, and turned back to see Subaru staring at him from the hallway, breathless and holding the wall for support. He looked different. Haunted.

“Don’t,” he said softly.

 

* * *

 

 

Fai and Kurogane weren’t the only ones to leave heaven that day.

There was Seishiro, the only evidence of his capture a trace of onyx blood stains in the stones.

Hisui was banished for betraying the trust of the angels. Those that knew more said nothing of their other offenses.

And though it pained Kamui dearly, the last was Subaru. There just wasn’t a way to keep him. Not after his soul had been so tainted by Seishiro’s evil.

 

* * *

  
There were creatures in the darkness. Some beautiful. Some horrid. Some kind. Some cruel.

But they were all hungry.

 

 


End file.
